


Been Here All Along

by A_Hundred_Jewels



Category: Six - Marlow/Moss
Genre: ANNE IS ADORABLE AND AWESOME, Aragon/Jane (minor), But not really that much, Cheesy, F/F, F/M, Kat/Cleves (minor), Please read, You Belong With Me (Taylor Swift) - Song and Music Video, because i dont know if the taylor music vid could take place anywhere else idk, dedicated to my fellow SIX the musical obsessed besties (A - C - G - S), love you all, parrlyn, rather long, super minor references to "She" by dodie clark, there's an OC on a bus who's an old lady with a lot of leaf veggies, there's sort of a reference to "Soul Sister" by Train, this is overly dramatic..., this kind of takes place in America
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-19
Updated: 2019-07-19
Packaged: 2020-07-08 14:57:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,943
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19871500
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/A_Hundred_Jewels/pseuds/A_Hundred_Jewels
Summary: Anne Boleyn and Cathy Parr are next door neighbors and best friends. Anne has been in love with Cathy for nearly a year, but she's fairly certain her feelings are unrequited. After all, Cathy is the girlfriend of Henry, one of the most popular boys in the school. There's no way she could ever go for her goofy best friend.Short summary: Cathy is perfect, Anne is adorable, and Henry's a jerk.This fic is also based on the song and music video, "You Belong With Me," by Taylor Swift. The fic makes a bit more sense if you are familiar with at least the music video.





	Been Here All Along

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own these characters. For one thing, they were all real people once (400-500 years ago). The characters that I am using for this fanfiction are the interpretations of these people (Anne Boleyn, Catherine Parr, Catherine of Aragon, Jane Seymour, Anne of Cleves, Katherine Howard, and their ex-husband) from Six the Musical by Toby Marlow and Lucy Moss, who are absolutely incredible. Let's all give them mental kudos on their incredibleness. Also, as I said in the summary, the plot of this fic is based on the song and music video, "You Belong With Me" by Taylor Swift. Therefore, there are parts of the plot line that I don't exactly own either. However, I did write this story, and THAT is something I do own. Also, there's an old lady on a bus around the middle of this ridiculously long one shot. You'll know her when you see her. I own her character too.
> 
> So, there are parts of this fic that includes a lot about an unhealthy relationship (the one I'm writing between Henry and Catherine Parr). I felt that I should say here that I don't actually know a terrible large amount about that subject. I did my best to make things as accurate as possible, but if something doesn't seem right, please let me know. I want to improve on my writing, so I really appreciate feedback, especially comments. 
> 
> Anyway, I hope you enjoy my writing! If you do, please leave a comment or a kudos to let me know. Thank you so much for reading :)

Anne Boleyn sat on her bed, studying. Sure, she had a desk, but Anne was never one for the conventional. Studying and reading and writing of all sorts were for her bed. Her desk was to sit on and look at memes. Around her room were piles and piles of books and clothes. Most of the books were historical fiction and poetry, but Anne also had a soft spot for teenage romance, which showed in the two books currently gracing her night stand, Carry On and Annie on My Mind, both of which she was rereading for the millionth time. Anne’s bedroom was her kingdom - her queendom, as she preferred to call it. And, her favourite part of it was the window. 

There was something special about Anne’s window. After all, directly across from it was the window of Catherine Parr, also known as one of Anne’s best friends, also known as her one true love. Anne had realized she liked Cathy about a year ago. (Apparently, the other four in their group -Kat, Cleves, Jane, and Aragon- had known for a lot longer). 

Anne looked out her window for the umpteenth time that evening. Cathy’s curtains had been closed since they got home from school, and Anne was starting to get worried. She knew Cathy was home (she could see that her bedroom light was on through the cloth), and it wasn’t like Cathy to isolate herself from the world (Anne in particular) unless she was upset. Seeing that nothing had changed and Cathy’s yellow curtains continued to reign Anne’s view, Anne returned to taking notes on Shakespeare. 

Suddenly, there was a change in the light across from Anne’s window. Anne looked up to see Cathy in a blue vest top and grey sweatpants opening the curtains. She had her cell phone balanced between her ear and her shoulder, and she looked incredibly frustrated with whoever was on the other end of her conversation. Cathy didn’t look up, but if she had, then she would have seen Anne gazing at her with a blend of sympathy and longing. 

Anne watched Cathy for the remainder of her phone conversation, studying forgotten for the moment. Cathy was too focused to notice her. When she finally hung up, Cathy dug warm brown fingers into her mass of hair and fell backwards onto her bed, throwing her blue phone across the room. Grabbing a blank notebook, Anne wrote “You ok?” in big letters on one of the pages. She propped it up on the window sill and went back to studying, though restlessly as she waited for Cathy to notice her note. After a few minutes, Anne looked up to see Cathy writing with large marker in a notepad of her own. She looked up and saw Anne for the first time that evening. Cathy gave a weak smile and turned her notepad so that Anne could see. 

“Henry’s upset about something,” she’d written. 

Right. Henry. Because Cathy had a boyfriend. A jerky, controlling, popular, boyfriend. Named Henry.

Anne forced the grimace off her face as she reached for her notepad on the windowsill. You deserve better, she thought. Uncapping a marker, Anne wrote simply, “I’m sorry,” followed by a frowny face. She held it up, and watched as Cathy shrugged. Cathy’s next note read, “He’ll come around. We’ll be fine.” It was always what Cathy said when Henry was mad. “He’ll come around.” It broke Anne’s heart a little every time. A girl as wonderful as Catherine Parr shouldn’t have to wait for her jerk boyfriend to “come around” every other day. Somehow, Anne refrained from writing the unflattering comments about Henry that were pooling in her head. Instead, she picked up her marker and wrote “Here for you.” She wanted to add a heart, but decided against it. Anne displayed her message, and her heart skipped a beat when it was met with a slightly bigger smile from Cathy. 

On a whim, Anne turned the page of her notepad once more and picked up her marker. With Cathy’s dark eyes and bright smile still alive in her heart, she began to write. A second later, she glanced up and her high of sunshine and rainbows and Cathy instantly subsided. In Cathy’s now-covered window, a propped up sign read, “Dad wants me downstairs :( talk to you tomorrow!” Despondent, Anne held up her last message and read it allowed. “I love you,” she whispered to Cathy’s curtains. 

Anne reached for her cell phone. Leaning against her headboard, she clicked on her music and scrolled through albums and playlists. She finally shuffled on a random playlist and smiled a little when “Soul Sister” by Train began to play. Slowly she rose from the bed and grabbed a hairbrush, singing along to the music pouring from her iPhone.

“Your lipstick stains  
On the front lobe of my left side brains  
I knew I wouldn’t forget you  
And so I went and let you blow my mind.”

Shoving books and papers to one side, Anne rolled off her bed in a fashion that she figured could pass as elegant. She sprang up and swept her long dark hair out of her eyes, still brandishing the hairbrush like a microphone. 

“Your sweet moonbeam  
The smell of you in every single dream I dream  
I knew when we collided  
You’re the one I have decided  
Who’s one of my kind.”

She closed her eyes and thought of Cathy, then belted out the chorus as ridiculously as she could. If it was possible to dance bad feelings away, Anne Boleyn would learn how.

“Hey, soul sister!  
Ain’t that Mr. Mister  
On the radio, stereo  
The way you move ain’t fair you know  
Hey, soul sister  
I don’t want to miss a  
Single thing you do, tonight.”

While yelling out the “heey, heeeey”s, Anne danced around her queendom, flinging her arms for emphasis whenever she felt it was appropriate (which was most of the time). If she had stopped to look out the window, she’d have been met with a most welcome sight. Cathy had returned to her bedroom and was now standing at the window with one edge of the curtains held loosely in her hand as she peeked around them. Catherine Parr stood, laughing for the first time since her argument with Henry, watching as, framed by the dark green curtains that hung open on the window across from her, Anne Boleyn danced her heart out. 

\---------------

Anne nearly slept through her alarm the next morning. She’d stayed up far past midnight studying and dancing in her room, finally going to sleep around two in the morning. After getting out of bed, Anne got ready for school in a frantic rush, yet she still missed the bus that she usually took to school. Anne was about to start walking, hoping that she wouldn’t be late, when her phone chimed with a text from Cathy.  
“Running late this morning,” the first text said. Anne smiled at their similar situations. “Want a ride to school?” Anne texted back with a “Sure!” and hoped that she’d sounded nonchalant. In reality, though, her heartbeat quickened as she remembered her final, unshared note from the night before. Her phone chimed once more. This time it said, “See you in 10.”

Ten minutes later, Anne slipped into the passenger’s seat of Cathy’s old blue car greeting the other girl with a cheery “good morning!” As usual, Cathy’s car felt perfect. Anne didn’t have a car of her own, and her parents’ car was always being used, so she mostly relied on buses. She hoped that, when she did get a car someday, it would be just like Cathy’s. Except green. Anne would definitely want it to be green. Still, she loved Cathy’s car. It was old, but falling apart. Rather, it was a comfortable kind of old, where it didn’t make you worried about spilling on the seat or putting your feet up on the dashboard (something Anne dearly loved to do). Plus, it always smelled of lemongrass. Just like Cathy did. 

As soon as Cathy pulled away from the curb, she opened her mouth, like she was about to say something, but stayed silent. Not wanting it to seem like she was staring, Anne looked away. Suddenly, Cathy spoke. “Thanks for checking in with me last night.” Anne looked at her friend. Her face was guarded, like there was more that she wanted to say, but thought against it. Anne knew better than to push her too much.  
“Of course,” she said, slowly. “You were upset. I’ll always be there for you when you need me.” Cathy smiled at that, but Anne knew her well enough to tell that something wasn’t right.  
“Are you okay?” she asked. Cathy turned to her and there was sadness in her eyes, but she shrugged it off.  
“Just - just tired,” she said, though it was clear that even Cathy herself wasn’t convinced. Anne frowned, but nodded. She’d tell the rest of the squad to keep an eye out for Cathy. 

Cathy’s phone chimed. “Could you check that?” she asked Anne. Anne looked at Cathy’s slightly cracked phone screen, and forced herself not to cry out in anger.  
“It’s Henry,” she said tightly. “He says for you to drive him to school because his dad blocked his car last night.” A flash of irritation passed through Cathy’s eyes, but she replied calmly, “Okay. We’re pretty close to his house anyway. Just tell him I’m on my way.” Anne did so, then put Cathy’s phone back on the console, silently fuming as Cathy turned the car around and began to drive to Henry’s house. “So, things are better from last night?” Anne hoped that Henry had at least apologized for whatever fight they’d had. Cathy wouldn’t look at her. “Yeah,” she said quietly. “He sent me a text saying that we were good.” She glanced over at her friend and felt her heart sob. Cathy had never looked so meek, so tired. Ever since she’d started going out with Henry, Cathy had become less and less herself. She had become quieter and sadder, and she wouldn’t tell anyone what was wrong. 

Anne took a long look at her. What was she doing with someone like that?

They pulled up in front of a huge white house - Henry’s. Cathy texted him to say that she’d arrived, then waited for him to come outside. Soon, the heavy front door swung open and a tall blond boy clattered down the front steps. Anne wanted very badly to punch him. Stupid Henry and his stupid white teeth and huge football shoulders. He sneered goonishly when he saw Anne. It was not a good look on him, Anne thought. Apparently, Cathy agreed because she gulped somewhat fearfully and jumped in as if to explain herself.  
“I was just giving Anne a ride -” Cathy started to say. Henry cut her off.  
“That’s my seat,” he said to Anne, with a jerk of his thumb.  
“She was already sitting there…” Cathy said, but her voice was barely a hum above the deafening silence Henry had brought with him.  
“It’s alright,” Anne said. “I don’t mind sitting in the back.” She locked eyes with Cathy, and it felt like the universe was desperately trying to connect the puzzle pieces between them.

You belong with me, Anne thought. 

Anne gave Cathy a tiny, but (hopefully) reassuring nod, then slung her backpack over her shoulder and opened the door. She purposefully looked away from Henry as, head held high, she got into the backseat of Cathy’s car. As Anne situated herself, putting her green and black backpack on the seat beside her, she continued making certain that she didn’t spare Henry a single glance. However, it was difficult not to notice when Henry reached over the console and grabbed the front of Cathy’s tee shirt, pulling her into a more obnoxious kiss than Anne knew could even exist. Needing an excuse to look away, Anne pretended to check her phone. In reality, though, she was thinking about how she would’ve kissed Cathy. Anne stared fixedly at her lock screen, imagining what it would be like to kiss Cathy. She would kiss her softly, tenderly. She would taste of something sweet, like apples. And, when they kissed, Cathy would smile against her mouth and she would look happy, not like a trapped fish. Not like she looked now. 

Anne sighed and leaned back against the seat. It was going to be a long day.

\---------------

Homecoming was in a couple weeks. Anne wasn’t sure if she wanted to go. She had several big tests also coming up, and she was a little behind on studying. One day at lunch, the topic of the much anticipated dance was brought up among Anne and Cathy’s friends. Aragon asked, “Who here is going to homecoming? I was thinking that we should try to go together as much as possible.”  
Jane nodded in agreement. “Sticking together sounds good,” she said. “I firmly believe that the rest of the school is getting sketchier by the day.” The rest of the squad nodded as they continued to eat. Anne sadly looked over at the “popular kids” table. At the beginning of the lunch period, Henry had demanded that Cathy eat with him and his friends. Now, as he laughed obnoxiously with a bunch of other giant football players, Cathy sat lonesomely at his side. Nobody made any effort to talk to her; they barely acknowledge her existence, save a few nods at the beginning of the lunch hour. Anne watched as Cathy ate her pasta salad in miserable solitude. After fifteen minutes of torturing herself, she decided to text Cathy. “You should come and eat with us,” she wrote, but then deleted it immediately. Never having been one for subtlety, Anne was afraid that the true message of her text (“why are you eating lunch with that blasted jerkface”) would shine through, and the last thing she wanted was to accidentally insult Cathy. 

Anne turned back to her table, where Cleves and Kat was trying to covertly give advice to Aragon on asking out Jane, whom Aragon had been crushing on for months. Ever oblivious, Jane continued to eat her veggie dog and work on her chemistry homework, not even noticing when Cleves tried to pat Aragon on the back encouragingly, with unfortunately resulted in Aragon shouting “OW” extremely loudly. Despite her generally dark mood, Anne had to smother a giggle at Aragon’s bewildered, yet completely adoring expression when Jane began winding a lock of her long blond hair around her index finger. Kat had apparently decided that covercy was beneath her, as she sighed dramatically and leaned back with her hands clasped across her chest. Anne hoped dearly that she wasn’t as obviously smitten when Cathy was around as Aragon seemed to be around Jane. 

Shaking her head at the display before her, Anne rapped her knuckles on the lunch table, which vibrated oddly with each blow.  
“Listen up queens,” Anne addressed the girls before her using their favourite squad title. At once Jane looked up innocently. “Queens,” she said smiling. “We haven’t used that one in a while, I don’t think.”  
Laughing quietly and rolling her eyes, Cleves shook her head at Jane’s oblivion, as if saying “Aragon’s so clearly in love with her, yet it’s address of ‘queens’ she notices.” Anne raised her eyebrows in agreement, but at once remembered Cathy, who hated missing out on things that happened among the queens. 

Something that would never happen if it were Anne who Cathy was going out with.

“Listen up,” Anne repeated. The other girls turned to attention. Anne glanced quickly around the general vicinity to make sure that no other students were listening to their conversation. When she saw that they were all clear, she leaned into the middle of the table, gesturing for the other queens to do the same.  
“I’m worried about Cathy,” Anne said quietly. “Something seems really off about her, and I think it has to do with Henry.” Kat and Cleves nodded, but Aragon shook her head.  
“Look, Anne,” she said. “I know you don’t like Henry. None of us do; he’s a jerk.” Anne nodded her head enthusiastically at this last statement. “But,” Aragon continued, “there is nothing we can do. Cathy is our friend, and she chose to be with Henry.” Anne opened her mouth to protest, but Aragon held up her hand, silencing her. “Anne, I agree with you,” she continued hastily. “There does seem to be something wrong with Cathy. And I wouldn’t be that surprised if it did have something to do with Henry. However, we can’t jump to conclusions. How do you think Cathy would feel if we just decided to walk up to her and tell her everything we hate about Henry, or give her a list of reasons to break up with him?” Anne looked down at the table. “Cathy is a strong girl. If she wants to break up with Henry, she can and will. And if she needs help, she knows that every one of us is here for her. The best we can do for Cathy right now is to make sure that she knows how much we love her and that we are always here if she needs help, or advice, or even if she just wants to talk.” Slowly, all the queens nodded. Even though they wished they could do more, they knew that Aragon was right. 

“Well, then,” Anne said with a small smile, “let’s start being supportive. Also, shall we have a group study with ice cream this afternoon at my place? I’m in that sort of mood.” Kat laughed and nodded enthusiastically, causing her pink curls to bounce. Cleves smiled and kissed Kat on the cheek. Snorting, Anne picked up her phone and texted Cathy. “Squad is studying at my place this afternoon. Ice cream included. Wanna join?” She sent it, then watched across the room as Cathy pulled her phone out of her back pocket and read the message. She turned towards her and smiled, typing out a response. A second later, Anne’s phone chimed.  
“Wish I could be there already!” Oh Cathy, Anne thought. Given the other girl’s current crowd, Anne didn’t blame her one bit. She raised her head from her cell phone and saw that Cathy was still looking at her. Not the table of queens (who had already re-opened a heated discussion about the purpose of memes), but her. Anne. The two girls locked eyes and something passed between them, like an electric current. And, in that moment, Anne began to feel that things might not be so hopeless after all. 

\---------------

It was the night of homecoming and Anne was studying alone in her room, cramming for her tests which were the next week. Through Anne’s window pane, she saw Cathy’s yellow curtains shrouding her own. Behind them, Cathy was getting ready for the upcoming dance. 

Soon, Anne knew, Henry would come and pick Cathy up in a stupid fancy car that probably smelled weird. And then Cathy would be sitting in the passenger’s side of a car that looked like it should be on a postcard. The AC would be on too high and there would be no music because Henry didn’t like music, and he’d never bothered to learn that Cathy did. But Cathy wouldn’t say anything. She would sit in the cold quiet silence and tell herself that this was where she wanted to be. And Henry would look at her across the console and he wouldn’t have any idea what he had. How amazing his girlfriend truly was. 

But all that was yet to come. Right now, Cathy was still safe in her room. Anne was still in hers, just a window away. Anne sighed and pushed the textbook off her lap. She slid off her bed and dug through the pile of notebooks on her desk, finally finding the one she liked to use for messages she wanted to send Cathy. Wanting to be supportive, Anne pulled out an orange marker and wrote on the blank page: “Have fun at the dance tonight!” She then propped the notebook up on her window sill and waited for Cathy’s curtains to open. She perched on the edge of the bed where she could see the window best. Behind her, study guides, books, and pens formed an avalanche on her bedsheets. 

A few minutes later, Cathy’s curtains opened revealing the girl herself in all her glory. Anne sighed softly as she took in the sight of her friend all dressed up. Anne didn’t even care that it was all for Henry. For once, she just let herself enjoy Cathy’s beauty. The other girl was wearing a satiny royal-blue tank top that flowed to her hips and black dress slacks that flared below her knee. Cathy’s wild dark curls were loose in a shiny cloud that reached her shoulders. Anne gazed on in awe of her beautiful friend, enjoying the gentle hiccup as her heart beat faster. 

Cathy looked up, finally feeling Anne’s gaze through the panes of glass that separated them. She didn’t see the message Anne had written, too absorbed was she as she grinned warmly at Anne and fastened gold hoops the size of bottle-caps in her ears. Then, Cathy saw the notebook in the other girl’s window and read the simple message. She frowned, suddenly, taking in Anne’s sweats and messy bun; the mountain of papers beside her on the roughly made bed. Hurriedly, Cathy picked up her own notebook and wrote, “You’re not coming?”

The soft smile drained from Anne’s face as she launched for the notepad. She turned frantically for a clean page, scrambling for her marker. How she wished she were going too! But, at the same time, Anne simply couldn’t bring herself to drag along alone, while her friends danced in pairs (Aragon had finally mustered up her courage and asked a blushing Jane who, of course, said yes, while Cleves and Kat were already dating and had been planning to go together all along). Anne knew that she was being overdramatic; it was her own fault for not getting a date, yet she only wanted to dance with Cathy. 

But Anne couldn’t say all that. So she settled on scrawling “no, studying,” which she held up for Cathy to see, chewing her cheek regretfully all the while. “Wish you were,” Cathy’s next note said. Anne shrugged but she was smiling a little. Blushing even, if only slightly. She fought to control it, watching sadly as Cathy waved goodbye and left her room. 

Anne was left sitting cross legged and staring out the window, her hand suspended in the midst of a weak, forlorn wave. She squeezed her eyes shut and fell backwards into the chaos on her bed. Her eyes stung, but she covered them with her hands as she took slow shaking breaths. 

It’s just a dance, she told herself. A girl and a stupid dance. You’re making too much out of this. You’ll be fine.

But Anne wasn’t fine. Not yet. And, sometimes, dramatic was just what she had to be. In a sudden bout of frustration, Anne grabbed her notebook and tore out the page where she’d written “no, studying” mere minutes ago, crumpling it into a ball and throwing it across the room. She did this with the next page and the next, all of them filled with random notes to Cathy from the weeks prior. It was only when, several minutes later, the opposite corner of the bedroom was littered with paper that Anne stopped, frozen in place as she stared fixedly, almost fearfully, at the page she’d just uncovered. 

Slowly, Anne picked up the notebook, still open to the page, and cradled it in the crook of her arm, letting her tears finally spill onto the cheap lined paper. Shutting her eyes, Anne whispered to the empty air, “I love you,” just as she’d done weeks ago, when she wrote the words she held close in her arms, the words she told now to Cathy’s curtains because Cathy herself wasn’t there. 

“I love you,” she said once more. 

Eyes still pooling, Anne carefully tore out the page and began to fold it again and again, smaller and smaller. Then, standing tall in her queendom, Anne stuck the paper in her sport’s bra and faced the world. 

\---------------

Cathy sat on the school’s front steps. She shivered in the October air - her coat was still with Henry’s in the office, where they’d put them before heading to the gym. When Cathy’d run outside, she hadn’t taken anything with her, too desperate to be alone with her thoughts. The sky wasn’t quite dark yet, and Cathy was glad. She usually didn’t mind the darkness, but it still made her uneasy when she was by herself. Behind Cathy, the school’s closed front doors thrummed softly with the beat of the music from the dance occurring within the highschool. On one of the doors, somebody had pinned a sign with the word “HOMECOMING” in huge letters. Below, in smaller print, it read, “Dancing - in the gym; Food - in the cafeteria.” However, one of the pins had come loose, and a corner of the paper sign fluttered in the autumn breeze. Cathy watched the rippling paper, thinking about the world and how different it was, moment to moment. No more than half an hour ago, Cathy had felt like she as nothing more than Henry's Girlfriend - at least to most of the school. How quickly things could change... 

Cathy and Henry had been sitting on the bleachers with some of Henry’s friends, who always ignored her. She tried not to mind, especially because she knew that her own friends hated Henry even more than Henry’s friends seemed to hate her. So she stayed in her Place next to Henry with his heavy arm draped around her shoulders, and she nodded along with their conversation, even though she didn’t care about it. As Cathy sat there, she felt her mind wander to other things. Homework, the book she was reading, tomato sandwiches, Anne… Always Anne. Anne, who had been there for her every time Henry got mad about something and Cathy got stressed out because of it. Anne, who loved using their windows and notebooks to send messages just as much as Cathy did. Anne, who could always make Cathy laugh, no matter how annoying life got…

“Cathy. Cathy. Catherine!” Cathy jumped and looked around. Henry’s friends were gone, and now Cathy’s boyfriend had partially detached his arm from her shoulders to look her in the eye with an irritated glare. She bit her lip and met his gaze.  
“You keep zoning out!” he said accusedly. “What’s going on?”  
“I - I don’t know…” Cathy trailed off, wishing now more than ever that Anne were here.  
“You don’t know? Cathy, It’s like you don’t even want to be here!”  
“I -”  
“Kiss me.”  
“What?”  
“That guy’s looking at you. Kiss me.”  
“No! That’s ridiculous.”  
“C’mon, Cathy, why not? You’re mine, so flaunt it! We have to show everyone you’re taken-”  
“Well, what if I don’t want to be taken!” Cathy shouted. Everything was silent. Suddenly a deer in the headlights, Cathy’s eyes widened and she looked around her frantically. All eyes were on Cathy. She took a deep, shuddering breath. “I’m done,” she said quietly.  
“What?”  
“I SAID I’M DONE!” Henry raised his hands mockingly, but looked validly taken aback, though Cathy saw that he tried to hide it.  
“We’re over,” she said again.  
“Well, this seems hardly fair -”  
“REALLY?” Now Cathy was more mad than ever. “YOU’RE NOT A GOOD BOYFRIEND, HENRY.” Some people were starting to laugh, but nobody looked away from the pissed off nerd yelling at her jock boyfriend.  
“You never listen to me!” Cathy continued. “You - you don’t care what I think, or what I want to do. Tonight,” Her voice broke as she spotted Aragon, Jane, Kat, and Cleves watching her from the back of the gym, looking for all the world like proud mothers. “Tonight,” she said again, “I wanted to dance, but you said that dancing was stupid, and that anyone who did dance was a - a - well, something I never want to say. Ever.” 

Cathy looked Henry in the eyes. For what felt like the first time in her life, she saw him for who he truly was. Not a god or anything extraordinary, but a boy. Just a boy, and one who wasn’t right for her in the least. “You never put me first,” Cathy said quietly to the boy in front of her. “Not even first-adjacent. Henry, I was your girlfriend! You were supposed to be so much more to me than you were! And don’t act like I didn’t do things for you. I need someone who cares about me more than you did - more than you do. I’m sick of driving you to school whenever you want me to and I’m sick of sitting at your lunch table with all your friends who never talk to me. I need more than that. So,” Cathy took a deep breath, “we’re over.” 

And with that, Cathy turned on her heel and jumped off the bleachers, leaving Henry behind her with an astonished expression on his face. Cathy pushed her way through the throng of people now gathered around the bleachers. They let her through without question. It almost seemed like they wanted to avoid her, but Cathy didn’t care if they did. She didn’t particularly want to interact with them either.

Cleves, Kat, Jane, and Aragon were waiting for her at the gym doors. They walked through the doors beside her without a word. As soon as they were several feet away from the gym, they all gathered her in an enormous hug.  
“Sweetheart,” Aragon said, “we are here for you no matter what.”  
“Always and forever,” Jane chimed in, nodding.  
Cathy looked at them all fondly. Here were her friends who’d stood by her through everything, and who loved her more than anyone could ever understand.  
“Thanks, guys,” she said softly. Kat reached out to touch her arm. “Want to go home?” she asked.  
“We’ll take you,” Cleves added, knowing that Cathy had been driven by Henry. Cathy smiled, knowing how lucky she was to have friends like these. Yet, she shook her head.  
“No, I’m alright,” she said. Jane frowned, clearly concerned for her friend.  
“Really,” Cathy said. “I’m okay. I’ll sit on the steps for a bit, and then I can take the bus or something. You guys were all having so much fun. Besides, I think I want to be by myself for a bit. I definitely need some air.” She smiled confidently, so that her friends could be sure she was telling the truth.  
“Alright,” Aragon said slowly. “Okay. But, just give us a buzz if you want a ride home.” She held up her cell phone, then took Jane’s hand as they walked back into the gym. Cleves and Kat both waved. Then, intertwined, they followed the other two. 

Cathy watched them go, and she’d never felt better. She pushed open the doors and welcomed the evening as it embraced her. Maybe her coat was still in the office, but she had her phone in her pocket and her heart in her chest. And - well, there was something else in her pocket, too. Something very important to her. As the stone steps grew cold through her thin pants, the Something grew heavy beside her cell phone. After a few minutes of biting her lip and wrestling with her common sense, Cathy sighed and pulled out her phone. Her heart thumped loudly as she scrolled through her contacts, grimacing as she passed over Henry’s name. Finally, she found the one she was looking for. “Anne,” she typed nervously. “I have a lot to say…”

\---------------

The bus was nearly deserted during evenings. When Anne climbed on at nine o’clock, her long dark green skirt nearly catching on the narrow stairs, there were only two other people on board. She paid the vaguely confused driver, then made her way to one of the hard plastic seats, where she sat down and placed a tiny black bag on her lap. She smoothed out the wrinkled pale green material of her button-down tee-shirt. The paper she’d torn out of her notebook was still folded in her bra. A corner of it scratched her skin, comforting her. 

Anne bit her lip and looked nervously out the darkened window across from her as the bus rumbled away from the stop. She reached a nervous hand up and felt the space buns she’d decided to put into her hair at the last minute. They were supposed to give her confidence, but tonight they didn’t seem to be working. Anne still couldn’t believe what she was doing. Not in the slightest. And yet - here she was. Taking the public bus to her high school, because she didn’t have a car. Going to Homecoming without a date, without any real plans, aside from the five-minute decision she’d made to come. Aside from the text she’d sent her parents who were at a conference (with the car. Of course). Aside from the carefully folded paper she’d brought because she simply didn’t feel like going anywhere without it at the moment. (Anne could be sentimental that way. Also obsessive). 

Anne was almost considering going back; getting off the bus and catching one going the other way. Back home. It wasn’t that she thought anything particularly horrible would happen at the dance. Not exactly. All she was doing was deciding to go to a dance that she’d been planning on skipping where all her friends already had dates. The worst that could happen was Anne feeling a little lonely. Well, no, she thought. The worst that could happen would be Anne losing her temper and giving Henry a broken pelvis, causing Cathy to hate her for the rest of her life. That’s what Anne was worried would happen. 

She couldn’t do this. She was an idiot for thinking she could do this. Anne pressed the “stop requested” button and let her head fall into her lap. 

“Hey,” she heard a voice say softly. “You. Girl in the green shirt.” Anne looked up to see an old lady sitting a few rows back beckoning for her to come. Though frowning, Anne waited for the bus to arrive at a stop sign, then walked quickly to where the lady was sitting. She was a tiny old woman with skin was folded into thousands of wrinkles and her nose was sharp and severe. Her eyes shone with concern. Anne sat in the seat next to her and tried to ignore the faint odor of cabbage that seemed to be emitting from the lady’s enormous purse. She stared at her lap and thought of Cathy.  
“What’s wrong with you?” the lady asked with a strong southern accent. She frowned and pulled a somewhat large bag of spinach out of her pocket, taking a generous handful. She must have noticed Anne’s stare landing on her snack because she lifted the bag and offered it to her. “Want some, honey?” she asked. “It’s supposed to be good for your eyesight.”  
“I - I’m okay, thanks.”  
“Honey, you’re definitely not okay. Spinach aside. I don’t mean to offend, but when you’re riding the T-bus all dressed up at whatever-time-of-the-evening it is now and you look like you’re about to fight a dragon, there are very few people who will think you’re okay. At the very least, most people will think you got stood up.” She squinted at Anne like she was trying to find an ant in a bowl of blueberries. “Is that what happened, honey? Did you get stood up? Also, I have mint leaves, too, if that’s more to your taste.”  
Though still a little wary of her and her leaves, Anne smiled at the at the genuine care in the woman’s eyes. “Uh, sure,” she decided. “I’ll take a mint leaf.” The woman handed her one and Anne smelled it before she took a tentative nibble. To her surprise, it tasted quite good, so she put the whole thing in her mouth. “I didn’t get stood up,” she said, while trying to ge a bit out of her teeth. “There, uh, there’s no one to stand me up.”  
“Is that the problem?” the woman asked, kindly. Anne hesitated, but the bus had hit a traffic jam, so she figured that she’d be sitting there for a while and there was no point in holding back much.  
“Kind of. There - there’s this girl...” Here, Anne paused, looking at the woman’s face. She had resumed eating her spinach, but now was looking at Anne with an expectant stare.  
“Go on,” she said.  
“Well,” Anne resumed. “There’s this girl who I like. A lot. But she - well she’s dating someone else. The thing is, though, I don’t think she’s happy with him. He’s not very nice. I can’t do anything about it, though, because she’s my friend. And I don’t want to hurt her feelings or anything if I tell her.”  
“That’s quite a predicament,” the old woman said softly. Anne nodded, sad again.  
“And,” Anne continued, “I was going to go to Homecoming tonight. To see her. That’s why I’m on the bus. But, well, I’m afraid.”  
“Honey, what are you afraid of?”  
“I’m afraid that I’ll see them together and I won’t be able to hold myself back. That I’ll get overprotective or over emotional - or both - and I’ll do something horrible, like tell the girl how I feel about her or kiss her or punch her boyfriend, and she’ll never forgive me. So, I’m getting off the bus at the next stop. I’m going home.”

“NONSENSE!” the lady shouted. Anne nearly jumped out of her skin, and the one other passenger looked up from his knitting to eye them warily. The lady paid him no mind.  
“Honey, you put too much doubt in yourself. Do you really love this girl?”  
“I - yeah, I do.” Anne fidgeted with the material of her skirt. The paper in her bra scratched her again, but Anne barely noticed.  
“And, do you want her to be happy, honey?”  
“Yeah.” Anne’s voice was quiet.  
“Then trust that you won’t mess things up. Trust yourself to do the right thing and to know what that is. And, remember that honesty isn’t such a bad thing. Can you promise me that?”  
“I - I don’t know if I can. I do strange things sometimes. Impulsive things.”  
“Honey - “  
“Look, we’re almost at the next stop. I know I can’t go. I’ll mess it up somehow. The girl I like, she probably knows that too. Plus, all our other friends are there. I doubt she’s even missing me.”  
“Honey, of course she’s missing you. Believe in yourself!”  
“You don’t know me!”  
“And yet I know you can do it!” The lady finished her spinach, waving the plastic bag with a flourish. Anne opened her mouth to protest, but had nothing to say.

At that moment, the bus pulled into the next stop. The guy who’d been knitting got off, almost dropping his yarn on his way down the steps. Anne began to get up, but froze. She thought of Cathy. She thought of her friends. She even thought of Henry. Slowly, Anne lifted a hand to her chest, where the folded paper was still nestled and sat back down next to the old lady.  
“The dance is still a little ways away,” Anne told the old lady, who nodded serenely. Just then, her phone chimed. Anne pulled it out of her tiny bag and checked the screen, blushing slightly when she read the name that appeared. The old lady raised an eyebrow. “It’s her,” Anne said. 

Anne opened up the text and bit her lip as she read. 

“Anne,” it said, “I have a lot to say. A lot to tell you that’s important to me. And maybe you won’t want to hear some of it, but I think I owe it to you to be honest. I know you weren’t planning to come tonight, but I really miss you and I just need to talk to you. Sorry if that sounds selfish, but it feels like the most truthful thing I’ve said in months. Can you come? I’m outside the school, on the front steps. We don’t even have to go inside. Yours, Cathy.” 

Anne began to tremble. “Well, honey?” the lady asked.  
“You were right,” Anne said. “She wants me there. She says that she wants us to talk.”  
“What did I tell you?” She smiled and patted Anne’s shoulder. “Now text her back.”

“I’ll be there ASAP. You can count on me. - Anne”

“Okay,” Anne said, shoving the phone back in her bag. “Okay.”  
“I knew you’d make the right choice,” the old lady stated, then promptly reached into her coat sleeve and pulled out another bag of spinach. 

\---------------

After sending the text, Cathy gulped. What if she’d gone too far? Anne was probably having a perfectly good evening to herself. She’d said that she was studying, hadn’t she?  
I am an idiot, Cathy thought to herself, when her phone suddenly chimed with a text from Anne. Expecting the worst, Cathy opened her phone and read the text. 

“I’ll be there ASAP,” it read, and Cathy smiled with relief. “You can count on me. - Anne”

Now, Cathy began to feel more nervous than ever. Anne was coming. Cathy had a lot to say, and she was deathly afraid Anne wouldn’t want to hear her say it. Deathly afraid that this would ruin everything. 

But there was no turning back now. 

Cathy shivered again. She really should’ve remembered to bring out her jacket. She thought about running back in there quickly, but worried that would be somewhat of a death threat. Cathy supposed that was the problem with having dated one of the most popular boys in school. During the relationship, you were untouchable. If something happened, though, or if it ended, then she was suddenly a wart on the entire school’s precious chin. Hated. Disgusting. 

What had she been thinking when he asked her out?

That he seemed sweet? That this could be fun? Well, she’d proven herself wrong. 

Just then, there was the sound of hurried footsteps slapping on the pavement. Cathy looked up, frowning in confusion. What on Earth? A figure rounded the corner, and flung themselves onto the grass near Cathy’s feet.  
“Anne?” Cathy queried.  
“Cath!” Anne’s voice came out half-gasp, half-cry. She looked up, and there was a brown leaf plastered to her forehead. Grass now adorned one side of her light green shirt, one that Cathy remembered her buying last spring. “I came, Cathy,” Anne wheezed. “The effing bus took ages.”  
Cathy laughed warmly at her friend. “Anne! You’re like, ten minutes earlier than I thought you could be! And you’re dressed up! And out of breath.” Anne pulled herself into a sitting position, her breathing now normal. Cathy grinned fondly when she noticed Anne’s space buns. She’d always loved when Anne put them in with the rest of her hair still hanging down her back. Now, the left one was looking rather floppy, but Anne casually reached up and began retying it, as she spoke.  
“I ran from the bus stop,” Anne began “I - well, you see Cath, I was kind of on my way already. I had to see you. And, uh, the other queens too, of course. Where are they, by the way? They didn’t just leave you out here alone, did they? And where’s that son of- where’s Henry?” Anne finished with a badly hidden grimace. Cathy couldn’t help but find it endearing, and she had to bite her lip to keep from laughing.  
“No one left me out here, but thanks for caring.” Anne shrugged matter of factly in response. “And, about Henry,” Cathy continued, “well, that’s part of what I wanted to talk to you about.”  
“Oh, dear Cath, are you getting married?” In the dim light of the moon, Cathy could see that Anne’s face had paled slightly. Now, Cathy couldn’t hold her laughter in.  
“Dear GOD, no!” she cried out between laughs. “No, no, no, not at all. Quite the opposite.” Anne’s face had returned to its normal color - she looked much relieved. However, she wasn’t laughing either. 

“What happened, Cath?” she asked softly, and crawled closer to her so that she was now leaning on the bottom step, her head at Cathy’s knees. Cathy avoided her gaze, looking instead at her hands clasped in her lap.  
“I broke up with him. Rather loudly. In front of the whole gym of people.” Cathy looked at Anne, who looked like she was desperately trying not to look overjoyed. “I think some people might be mad at me, now. That’s kind of why I’m out here. The rest of the squad was great, though. They said that they’d drive me home if I wanted, or they’d sit out here with me, but I told them to go have fun. There’s no point in their night being ruined just because Henry’s was.” Anne laughed at this. Cathy joined her. “Actually he’s probably got his tongue down someone else’s throat by now,” she said, still laughing a little. Anne gave her a questioning look. “I swear, I don’t mind, Anne. He can do whatever he wants now. And I can do whatever I want,” she finished, looking at Anne’s face. Her ethereal green eyes tilted up at Cathy’s brown ones.

And, when Cathy leaned in, it felt like something she’d been born to do. They kissed, softly, in the sky’s dimming light, and it felt natural. Anne tasted of mint, which might have been a little odd, but it made Cathy smile. Anne moved forward, kneeling now on the bottom step, and her hands were on Cathy’s waist. Cathy rested hers on Anne’s shoulders and they broke apart, gasping. Anne spoke first. “That was - wow. I mean, I liked it. I - Cath, help me out. I don’t know what to say.” She dropped her head into Anne’s lap. Cathy laughed, and put her hand on Anne’s head. “You said it perfectly. I liked it too. I have a question, though.” Anne looked up at her, almost fearfully, and Cathy gulped. She noticed things about Anne, now, that she hadn’t noticed yesterday. The way she pursed her lips. The way she was looking at Cathy, right now, like she needed her, like she was missing her when they were apart, yet also when they were together. Like she loved her. Tingling all over, Cathy breathed deeply and detected a strange smell lingering around Anne. She frowned. “Why do you smell like cabbage?” she asked, and Anne groaned, though she was laughing and she seemed relieved. “The, uh, the lady next to me on the bus had a very big bag on her lap and it smelled heavily of cabbage. I guess some of the smell passed over to me.” Cathy giggled. “Cabbage lady,” she said. “Sounds lovely.”  
“She was,” Anne smiled. “I almost didn’t come here - I thought I’d mess things up somehow. But she convinced me that I wouldn’t. And here I am.” Anne reached up and tucked a few of Cathy’s curls behind her ear. “Here you are,” Cathy murmured. Anne let her hand fall “Was that do your question?” She asked.  
“Hmm?”  
“You said you had a question. Then you asked why I smell like cabbage.”  
“Right. Sadly, that was not actually my question.”  
“Oh dear.” Anne took Cathy’s hand.  
“Don’t worry. I - I was just wondering if, well, if this happened out of impulse.”  
“This?”  
“We kissed, Anne. I kissed you because I wanted to. Because I’ve wanted to for ages. Why did you kiss me?”  
“Cath, you think I didn’t want you?” Cathy reddened and bit her lip.  
“Catherine Parr! I don’t believe you. And here I thought that I was the most transparent person in the world -”  
“Are you saying I’m dim?” Cathy was giggling now, but her face was blushing redder.  
“What? No! I’m complimenting myself.” Cathy’s laughter bubbled out, now, like a waterfall, and Anne put her hand on the other girl’s knee.  
“Look, Cath, I can show you. I can show you how I feel about you now and how I’ve felt about you for a long time. Trust me.”

Cathy watched, puzzled, as Anne reached down the collar of her shirt, into her bra. Anne’s tongue stuck out a little as she pulled something out. It was a piece of paper, folded many times.  
“You do realize that looked very odd,” Cathy told the other girl. Anne blushed.  
“Yeah, but by the time I did, I was halfway to finding this,” Here, Anne held up the paper, “so I figured I might as well commit to it.” Anne began to unfold the paper, and Cathy noticed that her hands shook slightly. “Why did I fold this so many times?” Anne muttered to herself. Cathy chuckled nervously. Finally Anne unfolded it the last time and, earnestly, held up the piece of notebook paper for Cathy to read. 

“I love you,” the paper said. Cathy nearly fell off the steps. Anne dropped the paper immediately, reaching out to steady her. “Cathy, oh my gosh! I’m so sorry! Was that too much? What am I saying, of course it was! I -” Cathy put her hand up, silencing the distraught girl in front of her. She reached into the pocket of her slacks and pulled out another piece of paper, folded like Anne’s. She unfolded it, just as Anne had, and held it up. Anne gasped. “I love you,” she read softly. Because, of course, that’s what Cathy’s paper said too.  
“Cath!” Anne shoved her paper back in her bra. “Cathy, I love you very much. And, while I’m being honest, I thoroughly dislike Henry and I applaud you for breaking up with him.”  
“And, Anne, I love you too, and I am also very glad that I broke up with Henry, though I wish you’d been there when it happened, because I think it was quite spectacular.” Anne laughed and pulled Cathy closer. “Actually,” Anne said, “do you want to go somewhere else? Technically, anyone could see us right now.”  
“Indeed. Also, I’m freezing.”  
“Me too! I completely forgot to bring a jacket.”  
“Mine’s inside. I forgot to bring it out, and I’m kind of afraid to go back in…”  
“As the person who confessed her love to you and was about to kiss you, I will go in and get your jacket. I will also steal Henry’s jacket.”  
“Anne!” Cathy snorted.  
“Fine, we’ll share yours.”  
“Works for me. Though, admittedly, I would have enjoyed seeing you wear Henry’s jacket.”  
“As I would have enjoyed wearing it. No doubt I could’ve pulled it off miles better than him.”  
“Certainly, you would have.” They both sighed.  
“Well! I’d best go and get your jacket. I probably won’t get Henry’s.”

Anne returned a moment later, grinning. She held Cathy’s navy blue jacket in one arm and, draped over her other arm was a large blanket like thing. She grabbed Cathy’s hand and pulled her around the corner of the school to a point where they were pressed against the brick wall of the school and almost completely hidden behind several bushes. Cathy looked around.  
“Gosh, Anne, how the hell did you know about this place. I can’t see anything!”  
“Well, my dear, there are three reasons for that,” Anne said in a pompous voice that made Cathy giggle. “Firstly, it is nearly ten o’clock at night, so it is rather dark. Second, we are surrounded by bushes.”  
“What’s the third reason?” Cathy put her arms around Anne’s neck. She was barely a breath away.  
“The third reason is that you can’t look away from me.” Anne kissed Cathy, pressing her against the school wall. It was short, but passionate, and Cathy wished they hadn’t broken apart so soon.  
“Oh, and to answer your other question, I know about this place because Kat told me about it after Cleves took her here once.”  
“Why am I not surprised.”  
“Because you know them. Also, do you want your coat now?”  
“Desperately. What the hell’s that blanket thing?”  
“Don’t you recognize it? It’s Aragon’s cape.”  
“Aragon has a cape?”  
“Yeah. She came wearing it tonight. I ran into her inside and she said I could borrow it.”  
“What exactly did you tell her.”  
“That I came at the last minute and I was hanging out with you and I forgot a coat.” Anne began to drape the cape around her shoulders. “I’m fairly certain she suspected that there was more to it, but she didn’t ask. Good old Aragon.” Anne laughed and slipped the cape over her shoulders, warmer already. She moved so that she and Cathy were beside one another, they turned towards each other, locking eyes and grinning like fools. They took each other’s hands in their own.  
“So,” Anne said softly. Cathy’s heart fluttered. “Shall we pick up where we left off?”  
There was a short pause, during which Cathy kissed Anne quickly, chastely. When they broke apart, Cathy kept her hands around Anne’s neck.  
“Nothing would make me happier.”


End file.
